Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Super Styles

So, while waiting for editorial feedback on my non-fiction anthology strip for SAW, I decided to work on a concept/notion/idea that I have been kicking around and playing with in various ways for some time, and that is a variant version of the Justice League of America - specifically, the "Satellite Era" team from the seventies (my JLA). I have been messing with character designs and names and whatnot, not necessarily for any specific outcome, but just to feed my inner comics-nerd. So, in a confluence of my decades-long fan status and my burgeoning cartooning practice, here's the dealio.

I started with this image, from JLA  #200 - this is the team I think of whenever someone says Justice League.

I did a bit of swiping as I replaced the superheroes with my own characters, and simplified the background (since I am not nearly as detail-obsessed as George Perez):


 To jazz it up, I tried coloring with pencils:

And again with markers ill-suited to the task:

Then, just for fun, I tried that bold, super-simple style I have been playing with:

Thoughts: 

  • using Perez as a style guide is maybe not the best idea for someone with a style like mine, but who knows how it will develop
  • I actually like that first inked version in a lot of ways
  • color is complicated - I can see why so many folks who work in color are going digital
  • I can see a use for the really over-simplified style, even

And finally, for anyone who really wants to geek out, here's the correspondence of original characters and my analogs:

Superman    Hella Man
Batman    Black Buzzard
Wonder Woman     Sister Splendid
Aquaman    Aquaphibian
Flash    Fleetfoot
Green Lantern    Runestone
Martian Manhunter    Mercurian Messenger
Green Arrow    Silver Sling
Atom    Nanonaut
Hawkman    Pteroman
Black Canary    Blue Flamingo
Elongated Man    Putty-Man
Red Tornado    White Squall
Zatanna    Pythagora


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